Apologies if this has already been brought up (I did a search but didn't find anything obviously about this), but I've noticed recently (this past week or so) that more and more adverts are being shown on analogue ITV1 in widescreen... is there going to be a total changeover of adverts to widescreen or something?
Do you mean widescreen as in deep letterbox mode (ie, widescreen on a digital platform) or the compromise 14:9 with the narrow bars?
The latter's been done for the last few years or so on analogue although some adverts are "deeper" (for want of a better word) black frame wise so they look like widescreen you'd see on the digital platforms. the Directline Pet Insurance advert, before they coloured the bars in, was an example of this.
It was required that all UK adverts must come in at least 14:9 format ('why?' seems to be a question not asked by many people) on 'C-Day' in mid-2000 (although many adverts were, and continue to be, just cropped versions of 4:3 masters), which incidentally was the same day that ITV changed to widescreen presentation.
Since "C-Day" all UK adverts (not including Channel - which isn't in the UK?) have to be delivered in 16:9 (full height anamorphic) format. These are then shown on digital outlets in full-screen 16:9 - and on analogue outlets these are normally shown in 14:9 letterbox. This has been the case for quite a number of years.
However - to make widescreen 16:9 adverts appear more "cinematic" - some producers are letterboxing even within a 16:9 frame (so they appear like 21:9ish Cinemascope - with black bars top and bottom) - which when the 16:9 ad is converted to 14:9 makes the black bars top and bottom wider than the normal thin 14:9 bars (so it appears to look like 16:9 on analogue!)
Alternatively someone may have got their ARCs in a twist and be showing 16:9 ads in 16:9 letterbox on analogue.
I've noticed a few times that trailers for 4:3 programmes (specifically Calendar) have gone out cropped to 14:9, presumably to avoid switching during the break?